The military of Myanmar overthrew the country’s fragile democratic government in a coup d’état on Monday, arresting civilian leaders, shutting off the internet and cutting off flights.
The coup returns the country to full military rule after a short span of quasi-democracy that began in 2011, when the military, which had been in power since 1962, implemented parliamentary elections and other reforms.
What led to the military coup in Myanmar?
Parliament was scheduled this week to hold its first session since the country’s Nov. 8 elections, in which the National League for Democracy, the country’s leading civilian party, won 83 percent of the body’s available seats.
The military refused to accept the results of the vote, which was widely seen as a referendum on the popularity of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the head of the N.L.D., has been the country’s de facto civilian leader since taking office in 2015.
The new Parliament was expected to endorse the election results and approve the next government.
The possibility of the coup emerged in recent days. The military, which had tried in the country’s Supreme Court to argue that the election results were fraudulent, threatened to “take action” and surrounded the houses of Parliament with soldiers.
How was the coup carried out?
The military on Monday detained the leaders of the governing N.L.D. party and Myanmar’s civilian leadership, including Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and President U Win Myint, along with cabinet ministers, the chief ministers of several regions, opposition politicians, writers and activists.
The coup was effectively announced on the military-owned Myawaddy TV station when a news presenter cited the 2008 constitution, which allows the military to declare a national emergency. The state of emergency, he said, would remain in place for one year.
The military quickly seized control of the country’s infrastructure, suspending most television broadcasts and canceling all domestic and international flights, according to reports.
Telephone and internet access was suspended in major cities. The stock market and commercial banks were closed, and long lines were seen outside A.T.M.s in some places. In Yangon, the country’s largest city and former capital, residents ran to markets to stock up on food and other supplies.
Who is Aung San Suu Kyi?
Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi came to power as state councilor in 2016 after the country’s first fully democratic vote in decades.
Her ascension to leadership was seen as a critical moment in the transition of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to democracy from military dictatorship. Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of the country’s independence hero Gen. Aung San, spent more than 15 years under house arrest.
Her time in detention made her an international icon, and she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
Since her release, her reputation has been tarnished by her cooperation with the military and her vociferous defense of the country’s deadly campaign against the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority group. In 2019, she represented the country at a trial in the International Court of Justice, at which she defended Myanmar against accusations of ethnic cleansing.
Many believed Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s cooperation with the military was a pragmatic move that would hasten the country’s evolution to full democracy, but her detention on Monday appeared to prove the lie in the military’s commitment to democracy.
Who is Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing?
The military said it had handed power to the army chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing.
The move prolongs the power of General Min Aung Hlaing, who is supposed to age out as army chief this summer. His patronage network, centered on lucrative family businesses, could well have been undermined by his retirement, especially had he not been able to secure a clean exit.
Under the former power-sharing agreement, General Min Aung Hlaing presided over two business conglomerates and was able to appoint three key cabinet members who oversee the police and border guards.
The military never fell under the control of the civilian government. In recent years, the army, with General Min Aung Hlaing at the helm, has overseen campaigns against several of the country’s ethnic minority groups, including the Rohingya, the Shan and the Kokang.
What Is the International Reaction to the Coup?
Several major world leaders quickly condemned it, demanding that Myanmar’s military immediately free Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the other detained government officials and honor the November election results. But it was not immediately clear what sort of concrete actions, if any, other nations might take.
The Biden administration, which has sought to elevate human rights as a foreign-policy priority since assuming office less than two weeks ago, suggested that it would penalize Myanmar’s military hierarchy with unspecified sanctions.
“The United States opposes any attempt to alter the outcome of recent elections or impede Myanmar’s democratic transition, and will take action against those responsible if these steps are not reversed,” the White House said in a statement.
António Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, said the coup developments “represent a serious blow to democratic reforms in Myanmar.” And Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain said in a Twitter post that the “vote of the people must be respected and civilian leaders released.”
How Has China, Myanmar’s Biggest Neighbor, Reacted?
China, which shares a 1,300-mile border with Myanmar and is one of the country’s largest investors, has responded cautiously to the coup, having cultivated cordial relations with both Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi and the military hierarchy that detained her.
“China and Myanmar are friendly neighbors. We hope that all parties will properly handle their differences under the Constitution and legal framework to maintain political and social stability,” Wang Wenbin, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, told a regularly scheduled news conference Monday in Beijing.
Myanmar was the first stop of a regional good-will tour last month by China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, who pledged to furnish Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine to Myanmar for free.
Rick Gladstone contributed reporting.
